Taking the lead in the lemon bobbing race, senior Zachary Lord rushes to the finish line. Lord is a member of Phi Delta Theta. The activity was one of several in the Fear Factor event, part of La Verne’s Greek Week. The event was held Monday Night in the Old Gym.

Michelle Ajemian
Staff Writer

Students at the University of La Verne lined up in advance to see Alpha Omicron Pi, Iota Delta, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Kappa participate in a reality television driven combination that took the contestants to the extreme mentally and physically.

“It’s similar to Fear Factor in that there are three stunts,” said Chip West, director of student life.

“It is a hybrid of the ‘Fear Factor,’ ‘Survivor’ and ‘Dog Eat Dog’ reality shows,” West said.

West and the Greek Week coordinators Mike Cordova and Diana Westmyer wanted to create an event where prior strategizing could not take center stage and it could be anyone’s win.

“Last year most of the events people could plan for, taking away from the f-u-n aspect,” West said.

“This event you couldn’t plan for,” West said. “It is spontaneity and camaraderie versus strategy and stick it to you.”

The events in Fear Factor would have been impossible to strategize for and was left up to the five participating team members of the organizations to compete in three stunts.

The organizations could not strategize, but they sure could cheer their lungs out.

The organizations did it often and frequently considering it was the first night event of Greek Week.

Cutting, gluing, pasting and untying were components of the first event that the Greek organizations encountered in Fear Factor.

Each organization was given a glue stick, Campus Times newspaper, piece of construction paper and scissors and had to cut out “The Game of Greek Life” April 23, 2007, and then a list all of the six organizations who were participating.

The catch was that the teams could not cut whole words. They could only take individual letters from only the headlines of that particular newspaper.

The second part of the stunt consisted of untying 75 knots on a 50 foot rope.

Once the knots were untied, the team had to run towards the doors with rope in hand to cross the finish line.

At the end of the first stunt it was Phi Sigma Sigma who crossed the finish line first.

Alpha Omicron Pi was eliminated from the festivities for coming in last in the first round.

“I was so excited because we got off to a really good start,” said Monique Avila, a junior member of Phi Sigma Sigma.

Unfortunately Phi Sigma Sigma’s strong competition came to an end at the close of the second round.

Partners from each team had to bob for a lemon or lime in a tub filled with water.

Once they grabbed hold of the fruit, they then had to transfer it to their partner after running across the gym floor that could be compared to a slip and slide.

“Just grab, suck and bite into it,” said Samantha Dauz, a sophomore Sigma Kappa member. “I felt citrus in my mouth and I lost my breath a few times but it’s all good.”

The final component of Fear Factor involved all five of the team members on the teams from Iota Delta, Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Kappa.

The organizations had to finish a puzzle inside the Old Gym and go to three stations around campus including filling up a bucket of water at the fountain, pulling out gummy worms with their feet in a kiddie pool at Leo’s Den and wrapping a roll of toilet paper at the Rock.

The members of the Greek organizations were vocal about supporting their organizations but most were anxious about not being able to see their team participate in the events around campus.

“It’s nerve racking and going to give me a heart attack,” said Stephanie Garcia, a sophomore member of Iota Delta.

To pass the time throughout the events, organizations did the wave, sang the song “Olé” and passed a burrito through the crowd.

When all was said and done Sigma Kappa came in first place, Phi Delta Theta in second place, Iota Delta in third place, Sigma Alpha Epsilon in fourth place, Phi Sigma Sigma in fifth place and Alpha Omicron Pi in sixth place.

The Greek Week coordinators wanted to kick off Greek Week with fast-paced events and that was accomplished through both the Tug of War and Fear Factor competitions.